Sanding device



H. POWER.

SANDING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-21,1918.

Patented Dec. 14, 1920.

TdE

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY POWER, OF MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TOWILLIAlVI HALTQN, OF lvIONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA.

SANDING DEVICE.

Application filed August 21, 1918.

T 0 all to ham it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY POWER, a subject of the King of Great Britain,and resident of the city of Montreal, in the Province of Quebec,Dominion of Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inSanding Devices; and I hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description thereof.

Heretofore considerable inconvenience and loss have been experienced inthe generation of electric power by the pulley and belt drive connectingan axle of a car with a dynamo, owing to the fact that under certainconditions friction between the prley and belt is reduced to such anextent that the pulley actuall loses its grip on the belt and rotatesfreely without it. Many at tempts have been made to increase the holdingpower of the belt and pulley by changing the structure of one or theother without avail and my invention is to cure this defect and increasethe friction, and thus overcome the slipping between pulley and beltwhenever the prevailing conditions require and particularly during thewinter season when snow and ice frequently completely destroy thefriction between the pulley and belt.

I solve the problem by providing a device which will project sand orother gritty material to the contact surfaces of pulley and belt. Morespecifically stated tie invention consists of an axle, a dynamo, apulley on the aXle, and a belt looped around. the pulley, and anoperative connection therebetween and the dynamo, of means forprojecting sand into the contacting surfaces of the pulley and belt andelectrical means operated by the circuit of the dynamo for controllingthe projection of the sand.

For full comprehension however. of my invention, reference must be hadto the accompanying drawings in which similar reference charactersindicate the same parts and wherein:

Figure 1 illustrates in elevation a pOTtlUll of the frame of a passengercar equipped with my invention; and

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional. view through the sandprojecting tube, nozzle, delivery tubes, and connection between the sanddelivering tube and sand box.

The apparatus is designed to produce the desired results with the leastpractical Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 14, 1920.

Serial N0. 250,881.

amount of sand and compressed air, the principle being to use a smallstream of sand at relatively high velocity, and this only whenadditional friction between pulley and belt is known to be necessary.This reduces the wear of the belt and pulley to a minimum. In factit isreasonable to believe that it actually saves wear as compared withcontinued slipping of the pulley within the belt.

Compressed air is used in an economical manner by passing same through adischarge nozzle 10 designed to produce high velocity, this requiring aminimum amount to produce the desired results, the operati n beingcontrolled manually or by an electrically operated automatic controlvalve. F or manual control of the sand an operating cock 12 is placed inthe vicinity of the switch panel (as indicated in Fig. 1 so thattrainmen when holding the operating cock open may have a view of thevoltmeter, and as soon the voltmeter indicates that the dynamo isgenerating, the operating cock may be allowed to close, thus shuttingoff the application of sand. The electrically operated automatic controlvalve employed by me is preferably of the type commonly used on the carsof electric railways for signaling, the valve stem constituting thearmature of a solenoid. This solenoid is included in an electric circuitand is magnetized by current generated by the dynamo. To secure anintermittent op eration of the valve a make and break device 71 isincluded in the circuit 70. The automatic valve may be disconnected fromthe dynamo by a switch 72.

The apparatus for supplying the sand to the contacting surfaces of thepulley and belt comprises a box 14 to contain the sand or othercomparatively dry gritty substance re ferred to hereafter as sand. Thesandbox is fitted with a comparatively tight cover 15 adapted to be heldagainst displacement by vibration of the car or other causes, and it maybe of any desired shape and located in any convenient place on the caror may be sunk in the floor or placed underneath the car floor. It ispreferable, but not absolutely necessary, that the bottom of the box beinclined toward the outlet tube so as to discharge all of the contentsby gravity. The lower end of the neck 20 enters loosely into the upperend of the sand delivery tube 21 which is suiiiciently large to providean outlet for upwardly flowing air due to back pressure in the ejectorand caused by stoppage of the sand projecting tube, or other cause. Thefree escape or this back pressure air prevents air pressure accumulatingin the sand box and straining it and possibly scattering its contents.This emergency air outlet is to take care of the first impulse due tothe deflection of the air, but this is not sutficient to compensate forsustained blockage. To obviate the continued leakage of: theback-pressure air a swingin check valve 25 is located in the deliverytube 21 and adapted to remain open under normal condition of operationand automatically close when there is a continued flow of sand and airor air alone in the reverse direction.

The ector is attached to the lower end oi the tube 21 and consists of anejector body 30 presenting a T-chamber to receive the sand deliveredthrough the tube by gravity. One end of the ejector body is connected toa tube 32 for projecting the sand against the contact surfaces of thebelt and pulley. The opposite end of the ejector body is fitted with abushing 33 in which is screwed the adjustable nozzle 10. The end of thisnozzle through which the air is discharged is dis posed near the innerend or the sand-proj ecting tube so that only a small amount of sandflows by gravity in front of the nozzle. The exact position of thenozzle may be adjusted however by screwing it into, or out of, theejector body, and when correctly ad justed it is secured by means of alock nut 35 screwed tightly against the end of the ejector body. ihe airdischarge opening may be straight or cone shaped, and of suchproportions to produce the maximum velocity. ln operation the dischargeof air from the nozzle into the projecting tube tend to produce a vacuumwhich assists gravity in bringing down sand where it will be thrown ordrawn into the projecting tube. The projecting tube extends "from theejector to a point within the space in losed by the pulleys and belt,and preferably is directed toward the center of the pulley, in such amanner that regardless of direction or rotation of the driving pulleythe sand will be quickly carried to the belt where it will produceincreased friction to overcome the undesired slippin To provide fornormal movement of car trucks relative to the car body, the sand-projetting tube is supported, from the car body ly, by any convenientarrangement of ngcrs or braces indicated at 4:0. This tube is preferablyplaced to one side oi the top line 01 the belt, and passes it at anangle so that the end of the tube will be directed as nea Ly as possibleto the center oi" the pulley.

In order to protect the ejector from the dampness oi the atmospherebeneath the car, due to escaping steam or other causes, an insulated box(ill of either metal or wood incloses the same and the bushing 30 ot thenozzle is litt *d into one side thereof permitting the nozzle to leadjusted without disturbing the connections between the box and theejector body or opening the box, and without disturbing the filler withwhich the be); is packed to protect the ejector.

d hat claim is as follow,

i. ll: a railway nassei'iger car equipment the combination with an axle,a dynamo, a pulley on the axle, and a belt looped around the pulley, andan operative connection there-between and the dynamo, of means forprojecting sand between the contacting surfaces of the pulley and beltand means operated by the circuit of the dynamo for controlling theprojection of the sand.

In a railway passenger car equipment the combination with an axle, apulley on he axle, a belt looped around the pulley, an dectric circuit,a dynamo included in said bruit and constructed and arranged to be""ivcn by said belt, of means "for supplying sand to the contactingsurfaces of the pulley and belt and an electrically operated valveoperated by said circuit and constructed and arranged to control thesupply of sand to the surfaces.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two witnesses.

HENRY POl/VER. .Vitnesses GORDON G. Coons, ll innmir J. C. llnwn'rsozv.

